Radial bogies generally provide railroad vehicles (e.g., unpowered railroad cars and locomotives with motorized axles) the ability to negotiate tight curves through radial adjustment of their wheelsets. The radial adjustment of wheelsets for curve negotiation is generally effected by the longitudinal forces that arise at contact surface points of the wheels as they travel around curves. Such radial adjustability is generally proposed to reduce friction and wear of the wheels and rails by minimizing lateral creep forces.
Traditional radial bogies include a linkage mechanism for providing steering interconnection of the wheelsets. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,871,598, incorporated by reference herein and made a part hereof, provides a radial bogie arrangement including an inter-axle link or guide rod which couples the rotation of the steering beam for the leading wheel set with the steering beam of the trailing wheel set. Nevertheless, these steering linkage mechanisms add significant weight and cost to the radial bogie arrangement. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a radial bogie arrangement which does not necessitate the use of a steering linkage mechanism.
This and other desired benefits of the preferred embodiments, including combinations of features thereof, of the invention will become apparent from the following description. It will be understood, however, that an arrangement could still appropriate the claimed invention without accomplishing each and every one of these desired benefits, including those gleaned from the following description. The appended claims, not these desired benefits, define the subject matter of the invention. Any and all benefits are derived from the multiple embodiments of the invention, not necessarily the invention in general.